My Holiday Travel to NJ/NYC/Philly

TO PLAN OR TO NOT PLAN, THAT’S THE QUESTION.

Originally, I’m from New Jersey, born and raised. Most of my family still lives there. This year, my wife, kids, and I decided to spend the holidays in New Jersey, specifically, New Years. In a nutshell, it was great. After the trip, I was thinking, as I normally do, and started reflecting. It was a peaceful and relaxing trip, more so than other trips. The difference?

I didn’t plan anything out. I know, that sounds shocking. In fact, for those who know me, know that I meticulously plan out every major detail of a trip, ask my Disney Crew. As I was reflecting, I came to a conclusion, there are benefits to planning and not wanting to plan a trip. However, there’s a difference between intentionally not planning a tripping and waiting last minute to do so.

May 2015, my family and I went on a road trip. We drove from Florida and stopped in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, and Connecticut. The trip was non-stop. We were highly schedule. The hours planned with only a few hours of buffer in between each major event. We accomplished a lot on the trip. We saw family, friends, had a bbq, attended a wedding, visiting tourist attractions, and had yummy food everywhere. Once the trip had concluded and my vacation was over, I was exhausted. Partially because of all the driving but mostly because of our non-stop agenda. The feeling of accomplishment outweighed the tiredness. My family and I shared so many great moments, we can’t wait for another road trip of that magnitude again.

Fast foward to December 2016. Our trip to New Jersey had been planned for months. That was all that was planned. We knew New Years Eve would be spent with family. Aside that, we wanted to attend a museum and do some Poké-hunting and that was it. Once we got there, we just went with the flow. We went to the Museum of Natural History and did Poké-hunting. Everything else that happened was spontaneous. Our alarm clock was our kids. They happen to be early birds, so once the woke up, we did. At that point we’d discuss the day and go. Our trip to New Jersey resulted in visiting areas in New Jersey, time with family, playdate with my friends kids, Nintendo Store in NYC, Rockerfeller Tree, sightseeing in Philadelphia, Eagles Game (and they won!), and karaoke night. We were busy but at our pace. The trip was memorable and awesome.

In all, I realized that the type of trip you want to have will be dictated by the type of planning you do. If you’re on a mission, then plan it! It’ll be the only way to achieve what you’re trying to do and that’ll give you the satisfaction. On the other hand, if you’re wanting to relax, that should be the priority and everything else will fall into place. Now, if you want to accomplish a lot, don’t wing it! It won’t work out and you’ll end up stressed and feeling like you missed out at the end of it. If you don’t plan, be intentional about not planning and make sure that whoever you’re planning with is on the same page. Otherwise, you know how that’ll end up. How do you travel? Are you spontaneous or a planner? Drop a comment below or tweet me! Until next week…